Chasing after a disaster chaser

"Every disaster has them," said Dave Stuart, president of a nonprofit that helps wildfire victims. "They're literally like vultures circling."

Chasing the storm chasers through court can prove a costly, time-consuming and often fruitless exercise.

Contractors and public adjusters -- who negotiate with insurers on behalf of policy holders -- are subject to a patchwork of regulation and uneven enforcement from state to state. Half of the states do not even license public adjusters, giving the government no jurisdiction to pursue complaints. Many victims have no recourse beyond filing suit.

"If you screw someone who's down and out, he's not going to have the resources to go after you," said Steve Irving, a Louisiana attorney who is seeking $600,000 from Slepcevic and other Paramount employees in a racketeering suit on behalf of two victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

In some cases, homeowners make out well and the victims are insurance companies, which often pay inflated claims rather than spend money on litigation, industry experts say. Policy holders ultimately pay the price in rising premiums.

The cost of post-disaster insurance fraud is hard to measure. The Insurance Information Institute, a trade group, estimates that fraud accounts for 10% of all property damage claims, suggesting that the toll from a disaster the size of Katrina could reach billions of dollars.

Paramount has left a trail of complaints from Mississippi to California, which, despite some of the toughest regulations in the country, has struggled to hold the company accountable.

Only recently have Slepcevic's troubles been closing in.

The day before the San Francisco conference, California suspended his contractor's license. Weeks earlier, a judge had thrown out his petition for personal bankruptcy.

In the bankruptcy case, Slepcevic had acknowledged 21 claims against him or Paramount. But the U.S. trustee said in court papers that Slepcevic was "actively concealing" a $200,000 fine by the California Department of Insurance and six related criminal charges for allegedly misrepresenting himself to victims of California wildfires.

Slepcevic has promised to pay the debtors -- just as soon as the next disaster strikes.

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Small headquarters

Paramount touts itself in news releases as "the world's leading disaster restoration . . . company," with offices in 11 states and the Caribbean. The company says it employs "some of America's finest engineers, architects, estimators and construction crews."